Century egg

All too often, century eggs top online polls for “weirdest food ever eaten” or “most pungent delicacy”. It isn't difficult to see why: the egg “white” is black and gelatinous, and the yolk — a dubious shade of grey — is surrounded by a faint, acrid pong. Commonly held myths, too, do little to whet appetites, such as the notion that it is made by steeping in horse urine, or that it’s aged for a hundred years.

Century egg, also known as preserved egg, hundred-year egg, thousand-year egg and millennium egg, is a Chinese cuisine ingredient made by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime, and rice hulls for several weeks to several months, depending on the method of processing.  Through the process, the yolk becomes a dark green to grey colour, with a creamy consistency and an odor of sulphur and ammonia, while the white becomes a dark brown, translucent jelly with little flavor. The transforming agent in the century egg is its alkaline material, which gradually raises the pH of the egg to around 9, 12, or more during the curing process. This chemical process breaks down some of the complex, flavorless proteins and fats, which produces a variety of smaller flavorful compounds.  Some eggs have patterns near the surface of the egg white that are likened to pine branches, and that gives rise to one of its Chinese names, the pine-patterned egg.

Hong Kongers enjoy century eggs in a variety of ways. Pei dan juk (century egg congee), is a common breakfast, while century egg with pickled ginger, which helps clear the palate, makes for a good starter. Another way to appreciate them, suggests Andrew Dembina, food and wine editor of Baccarat Magazine, is to serve them with silky tofu, drizzled with soy sauce and topped with chopped spring onions and pork floss.

Century eggs also can be eaten without further preparation, on their own or as a side dish. In Taiwan, it is popular to eat century eggs on top of cold tofu with katsuobushi, soy sauce, and sesame oil in a style similar to Japanese hiyayakko. A variation of this recipe common in northern China is to slice century eggs over chilled silken (soft) tofu, adding liberal quantities of shredded young ginger and chopped spring onions as a topping, and then drizzling light soy sauce and sesame oil over the dish, to taste. They are also used in a dish called old-and-fresh eggs, where chopped century eggs are combined with (or used to top) an omelet made with fresh eggs.

Yangshuo beer fish(Kweilin)(China)

The fresh fish from Li River-Kweilin which is cooked in local beer is the most popular dish of Yang shuo. The fish is cooked in beer with some local vegetables and is served as a whole. Therefore it can contain bones but the meat tastes delicious

The town of Yangshuo is situated amongst a great range of limestone karsts, that a limestone mountain range eroded into hundreds of high peaks and towers by acidic soil and rain at the meeting point of the well-known Li and Yulong rivers. It is considered to be unique in China because of both of its magnificent geography features and its blend of western and traditional Chinese culture. It attracts so many climbers, travellers and even artists.

We went out for dinner on our first night, and had unbelievably cheap local noodles and dumplings which tasted so fantastic. After the wonderful dinner, we wandered around the streets, joining tens of thousands of Chinese, shoulder to shoulder crossing through the center.

Fortunately Yangshuo is a enchanting place, filled with a lot of bars, cafes and restaurants. The local people there were lovely and friendly. We decided to spend the majority of our 5 days here eating and people watching. Even though we did get out and explore.

One of my most favorite dishes in Yangshuo is Beer Fish that is called pijiu yu in Chinese. It mustn't be missed if you have a chance to taste the local cuisines in Yangshuo.

Fish has been braised in beer, tomato, peppers, garlic, ginger and oyster sauce for a while. The dish smells tempting. With the fish usually ending up deliciously tender pieces of flesh, it melt in your mouth wonderfully. The most important facter in this delicious dish is that the type of fish. It is most recommending that the local carp is best choice.

The recipe and cooking method can differ slightly depending on the style of the cook. It is no doubt that you are likely to taste different flavors even in the same restaurant. However, beer fish is so popular that it can be found at most restaurants in Yangshuo. 

It was said that the dish was first made in the 80's by mistake when beer was poured onto a piece of fish in a wok to stop it from burning. That might be true..

Japanese red been soup

Oshiruko is Japanese red bean soup. Taste of the soup is sweet and it include Mochi (Japanese rice cake). In Japan, Oshiruko is eaten when Japanese celebrate new year. In the past time, red been was quite expensive and so people could eat it when they celebrate new year. Nowadays, some scientific research shows that red been gives human body good effect and the Oshiruko is often eaten as desｓert. Basically sugar is used to make sweet taste but sometime salt is also used. it is said that salt strength sweetness of Oshiruko. Especially older people like this food and Mochi sometime stuck their throat and airway and kill them. We can find a news about older people's death because of Mochi about this time every year. It shows how older people like this food. They want to eat it even if they are killed by it.

File:Oshiruko with genmai mochi.jpg

bibimbab

Bibimbab

Bibimbap is a famous Korean dish. The word literally means "mixed rice". Bibimbap is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul (sautéed and seasonedvegetables) and gochujang (chili pepper paste). A raw or fried egg and sliced meat (usually beef) are common additions. The ingredients are stirred together thoroughly just before eating. People who are health conscious they change the white rice to brown rice.

 It can be served either cold or hot.

Jeonju, the capital of the north jeolla province in South korea is most famous for their style of bibimbab. Bibimbab was listed at no. 40 on worlds 50 most delicious foods readers' poll complied by CNN go in 2011.

There are many variety of bibimbab, dolsot bibimbab which is bibimbab served in a very hot stone bowl with a raw egg in the middle and it is cooked by the heat of the stone bowl.

Dolsot bibimbab

Jeonju bibimbab

  

Some Strangest Foods 

They say one man's trash is another man's treasure. The same could be said about food: one man's nightmare may just be another man's delicacy. From cow's tongue and pig's snout to chicken's feet, from fried worms and frog's legs to sauteed snails, the list of weird stuff we eat is endless (and often quite tasty). If you've been indulging lately and need a reason to diet, take a read, you may just lose that appetite. Here is the list of the ten strangest foods from around the world.

10. Fried - brain sandwiches

Long before the era of Mad-Cow Disease, a sandwich made from fried calves' brain, thinly sliced on white bread was a common item on the menus in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. The sandwich is still available in the Ohio River Valley, where the brains are now heavily battered and served on hamburger buns. In El Salvador and Mexico beef brains, lovingly called sesos in Spanish, are used in tacos and burritos. The brains have a mushy texture and very little flavor on their own so the addition of copious amounts of hot sauce definitely helps.

9. Haggis

A traditional Scottish dish, haggis is made with the minced heart, liver and lung of a sheep mixed with onion, spices, oatmeal, salt and stock, and boiled in the sheep's stomach for a few hours. Larousse Gastronomique, a popular encyclopedia of gastronomic delights, claims that haggis has "an excellent nutty texture and delicious savory flavor." Haggis is available year-round in Scottish supermarkets and made with an artificial casing rather than a sheep’s stomach. In fact some are sold in cans to be heated in a microwave before eating. Similar dishes can be found in other European countries with goat, pork or beef used instead of sheep.

8. Bugs

The practice of eating insects for food is called entomophagy and is fairly common in many parts of the world, with the exceptions of Europe and North America (though bugs are apparently a favorite with the television show "Fear Factor"). It is not uncommon to find vendors selling fried grasshoppers, crickets, scorpions, spiders and worms on the streets of Bangkok, Thailand. Insects are high in protein and apparently consist of important fatty acids and vitamins. In fact flour from drying and grinding up mealworm can be and is often used to make chocolate chip cookies. So next time you think there is a fly in your soup, it may actually just be part of the presentation.

7. Rocky Mountain Oysters

What is so strange about oysters? Probably the fact that they're not the kind you find at the bottom of the ocean, but rather a fancy name given to deep-fried testicles of a buffalo, bull or boar. Rocky Mountain oysters (also called Prairie Oysters) are well-known and regularly enjoyed, in certain parts of the United States and Canada, generally where cattle ranching is prevalent. The testicles are peeled, boiled, rolled in a flour mixture, and fried, then generally served with a nice cocktail sauce.

6. Stuffed Camel

The recipe for a whole stuffed camel kind of reads like a bad joke, with ingredients that include one whole camel, one whole lamb and 20 whole chickens. The Guinness Book of World Records lists the recipe as the largest item on any menu in the world, conveniently leaving out any concrete examples of this dish actually being eaten. Legend has it that that a whole stuffed camel is a traditional Bedouin dish seemingly prepared like a Russian Stacking Doll, where a camel is stuffed with a whole lamb, the lamb stuffed with the chickens and the chickens stuffed with eggs and rice. The entire concoction is then barbecued until cooked and served. Fact or fiction, the shear amount of food created by this dish makes it deserving of a place on the list.

5. Hakarl

Anthony Bourdain, known for eating some of the strangest foods in the world, claims that hakarl is the most disgusting thing he has ever eaten. Made by gutting a Greenland or Basking shark and then fermenting it for two to four months, hakarl is an Icelandic food that reeks with the smell of ammonia. It is available all year round in Icelandic stores and often served in cubes on toothpicks.

4. Fugu

Fugu is the Japanese word for the poisonous puffer fish, filled with enough of the poison tetrodotoxin to be lethal. Only specially-trained chefs, who undergo two to three years of training and have passed an official test, can prepare the fish. Some chefs will choose to leave a minute amount of poison in the fish to cause a tingling sensation on the tongue and lips as fugu can be quite bland. Perhaps the fuss of fugu is more in surviving the experience than the actual taste of the deadly fish.

3. Casu Marzu

Found in the city of Sardinia in Italy, casu marzu is a cheese that is home to live insect larvae. These larvae are deliberately added to the cheese to promote a level of fermentation that is close to decomposition, at which point the cheese’s fats are broken down. The tiny, translucent worms can jump up to half a foot if disturbed, which explains why some people prefer to brush off the insects before enjoying a spoonful of the pungent cheese.

2. Sannakji

With sashimi and sushi readily available the world over, eating raw seafood is no longer considered a dining adventure. The Korean delicacy sannakji however, is something quite different, as the seafood isn't quite dead. Live baby octopus are sliced up and seasoned with sesame oil. The tentacles are still squirming when this dish is served and, if not chewed carefully, the tiny suction cups can stick to the mouth and throat. This is not a dish for the fainthearted.

1. Balut

Balut seems to be on every "strange food" list, usually at the top, and for good reason. Though no longer wriggling on the plate like the live octopus in Korea, the fertilized duck or chicken egg with a nearly-developed embryo that is boiled and eaten in the shell is easily one of the strangest foods in the world. Balut is very common in the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam and usually sold by street vendors. It is said balut tastes like egg and duck (or chicken), which is essentially what it is. It is surprising to many that a food that appears so bizarre—often the with the bird's features clearly developed--can taste so banal. In the end, apparently everything does indeed, just taste like chicken.

OKONOMIYAKI

Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き o-konomi-yaki?) is a Japanese savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning "grilled" or "cooked" (cf. yakitoriand yakisoba). Okonomiyaki is mainly associated with Kansai or Hiroshima areas of Japan, but is widely available throughout the country. Toppings and batters tend to vary according to region. Tokyo okonomiyaki is usually smaller than a Hiroshima or Kansai okonomiyaki.


Kansai- or Osaka-style okonomiyaki is the predominant version of the dish, found throughout most of Japan. The batter is made of flour, grated nagaimo (a type of yam), water or dashi, eggs and shredded cabbage, and usually contains other ingredients such as green onion,meat (generally thin pork belly, often mistaken for bacon), octopus, squid, shrimp, vegetables,kimchi, mochi or cheese. Okonomiyaki is sometimes compared to an omelette or a pancake and may be referred to as a "Japanese pizza" or "Osaka soul food".[1]Some okonomiyaki restaurants are grill-it-yourself establishments, where the server produces a bowl of raw ingredients that the customer mixes and grills at tables fitted with teppan, or special hotplates. They may also have a diner-style counter where the cook prepares the dish in front of the customers.In Osaka (the largest city in the Kansai region), where this dish is said to have originated, okonomiyaki is prepared much like a pancake. The batter and other ingredients are fried on both sides on either a teppan or a pan using metal spatulas that are later used to slice the dish when it has finished cooking. Cooked okonomiyaki is topped with ingredients that include otafuku/okonomiyaki sauce (similar to Worcestershire sauce but thicker and sweeter), aonori (seaweed flakes), katsuobushi (bonito flakes), Japanese mayonnaise, and pickled ginger (beni shoga).

Kansai area is west side in Japan. Those who are in this area eat Okonomiyaki with rice. Both foods include much carbohydrates so reasonable people do not eat both of them. In Kanto area which is east side and more sophisticated area in Japan do not eat Okonomiyaki with rice.

Fermented bean curd(Chinese)

Fermented tofu also called fermented bean curd, sufu, tofu cheese, or preserved tofu is a form of processed, preserved tofu used in East Asian cuisine as a condiment made from soybeans. The ingredients typically are soybeans, salt, rice wine and sesame oil or vinegar, and are sold in jars containing blocks 2- to 4-cm square by 1 to 2 cm thick soaked in brine with select flavorings

Serving

Fermented tofu is commonly used as a condiment and is consumed at breakfast to flavor rice, porridge, gruel or congee. Usually either several bricks are placed in a small bowl covered in the flavored brine or one to one half bricks are placed into a bowl. Then, chunks are broken off the brick and consumed with a mouthful of porridge or gruel. The brine may also be used for flavoring. Fermented bean curd can also be added in small amounts, together with its brine, to flavor stir-fried or braised vegetable dishes (particularly leafy green vegetables such as water spinach).

Characteristics

Fermented bean curd has a special mouthfeel similar to certain dairy products due to the breakdown of its proteins which takes place during the air drying and fermentation. Lacking strong flavor, fermented bean curd takes on the aroma and taste of its soaking liquid. The flavor is salty with mild sweetness. The texture and taste of fermented bean curd resembles a firm, smooth paste not unlike creamy blue cheese. (Indeed, this kind of tofu is sometimes called "Chinese cheese" in English). Refrigerated, it can be kept for several years, during which time its flavor is believed to improve.

Varieties

White (bái) preserved bean curd (fǔrǔ) is the most common type and can be described without the white adjective. The flavor, color and aroma can be altered using various combinations of spices and seasoning in the brine with alterations in the commonly used combination of 10% rice wine and 12% salt. Those with no alcohol produces "small cheese cubes" (hih-fang) while those with double the alcohol content produces "drunken cheese" (tsui-fang).This variety is also available with chili and/or sesame oil. Seasonings can include anise, cinnamon, lemon juice, lemon zest, dried shrimp, and ham. In addition, one can also obtain the curd dried, and without brine, which are then sold in paper cartons.

Red fermented bean curd (Chinese: 紅腐乳/南乳; pinyin: hóngfǔrǔ/nánrǔ), incorporates red yeast rice (cultivated with Monascus purpureus) with the brining liquor for a deep-red color and distinctively thickened flavor and aroma. This variety may also contain chili. A popular derivative of this variety has an appearance of ketchup and is seasoned with rose essence, caramel and natural sugar.

Stinky fermented bean curd is fermented for over six months and is also popular due to its strong creamy flavor. However due to its strong acrid smell, this variety is an acquired taste.Note that stinky sufu differs from stinky tofu in appearance, consistency and salt content. Stinky sufu are made in the same cube-like shapes and has a similar smooth soft creamy texture as regular white sufu. In Taiwan, a green version is popular and made with sake lees, crushed leaves and a green mucor mold. It is then fermented for 12 hours and sold on the streets.

Chiang fermented bean curd (Chiang-doufu) is made with cubes of tofu soaked in either Chinese-style miso (Chiang) or soy sauce for several days. Usually reddish-brown in color and salty, it may be dried and fermented further and also may also be mixed with sake lees. In Japan, miso is used.

History

According to Bencao Gangmu (Pen Ts'ao or Chinese Materia medica), by Li Shizhen (1596), the creation of soybean curd is attributed to Liu An (179 – 122 BC), king of Wainan. Manufacture spread began during the Han Dynasty in China after it was created.The date when the preservation of this curd began is unknown, but most likely was derived from those wishing to preserve the curd that had appeared to have gone bad.

The Food Encyclopedia, written by Wang Su-Hsiung (1861) of Qing Dynasty, made reference to preserved bean curd as superior to difficult-to-digest, hardened tofu especially for the elderly, children and ill persons.